Anderson.Billy.Fayette.NEWS-OBIT

Unknown Newspaper & date

Uncle Billy Anderson, 98, Still A Skillful Barber.

     The oldest practicing barber in Lexington and probably the oldest
person in the city working steadily is an aged Negro known to thousands
of Kentuckians and former Kentuckians as Uncle Billy Anderson.  For 70
years the erect, grey-bearded old man, has shaved and cut hair for members
of the most prominent families of the city and state.
     Born in slavery in 1836 on the estate of Ed Allen on the Harrodsburg
pike, where Mrs. J. W. Sayre now lives, Uncle Billy celebrated his 98th
birthday on Christmas Day.  Since 1861, when he learned the barber trade
in Canada, he has "served faces" as he expresses his work, steadily and
faithfully, seldom missing a day because of illness.
     Uncle Billy's mother, half Indian and half Negro, was owned by Mr.
Allen as were Uncle Billy and his sister.  When he was 18 years old he and
his mother and sister were sold at public auction from the slave block on
Cheapside.  He was bought by a Mr. Vaughn for $1,450.  His mother and
sister were bought by other purchasers, his sister bringing $1,000, and the
family was separated.  Years later, after the War Between the States, Uncle
Billy returned to Lexington and found his mother here.  His efforts to
locate his sister never met with success.
     Because of bad treatment, a thing to which he was not accustomed under
the ownership of Mr. Allen, Uncle Billy ran away from his purchaser, making
his escape to Cincinnati by hiding under a load of hay.  With the aid of
the "underground railway," he reached Toronto where he remained a few
years.  It was there that he learned barbering, while he was employed as
porter in a barber shop.
     Returning to Ohio before the war, he obtained work and remained there
until he became waiter for Gen. Sherman, with whom e traveled to Texas and
throughout the south.  After his freedom has been given by the emancipation
proclamation and at the end of the war, he returned to Lexington and
obtained work in a barber shop.
     For a year or more he worked in a shop managed by Henry Britton at the
old Phoenix tavern, where the Phoenix hotel now stands.  Later he moved to
the corner of Main and Upper streets, where he remained in a basement shop
for 63 years and a half until shortly after the old Union Bank and Trust
Company, which occupied the corner, was moved to its present Short street
location.  When the building now housing Lerner's was erected, he moved to
the shop he now has on Mill street between Short and Church streets.
     With Uncle Billy in the barber shop there are three other veterans.
Churchill Johnson has been with him for 42 years and his brother, Eugene
Johnson, for 30 years.  Uncle Billy's son, Will Anderson Jr., the porter
in the shop, has worked with Uncle Billy most of the 50 years, having
started shining shoes when he was seven years old.
     His oldest customer, in point of continuous attendance, is John
Pilkington, a resident of Stone road, who has come regularly to Uncle
Billy for 70 years.  Five generations of the Johnson and Steele families
and four of the Milward family, John Preston, Len Price, and members of
the Warfield, Cassell, Mitchell, Karsner, Appleton, Dudley, Skillman,
Coleman, Berry, Bowman, Nunnelley, Frazee, Bassett, Stoll, Shelby, Beck,
Murphy, Mulligan, Payne and Nugent families have been among his customers.
     Attesting to his widespread popularity among people he has served was
the world-wide recognition he has received with the last two years, since
the publication of his picture and a statement of his age and achievements
in a syndicated newspaper feature.  Since that time he has received letters
from approximately 500 former clients in South Africa, Japan,Europe,
England and many other parts of the world in addition to all sections of
the United States.
     Although his memory is not so clear as it was a few years ago, Uncle
Billy has little trouble in recalling the time when he ran away from the
Allen farm to see the funeral possession of Henry Clay, which was witnessed
by one of the largest crowds ever to gather in Lexington.
     He also remembers clearly the visits of John C. Breckinridge, whose
statue now stands in Cheapside park, and Cassius M. Clay to his shop. He
can tell of the visits Abraham Lincoln paid to the city and of Mary Todd,
who became Lincoln's wife, and other members of the prominent Todd family.
     There are few events of any importance that Uncle Billy cannot recall
and his stories of the exciting days of the War Between the States are as
thrilling as his tales of the early days of Lexington are interesting
and informative.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Then there is part of his obituary on the page--no date.


     "Uncle Billy" served the tonsorial needs of fathers, sons, grandsons,
and great grandsons in many families.  He pointed with pride to the fact
that he had served six generations of the Johnston family.  He listed
John C. Breckinridge, one time vice president of the United States, as one
of his most distinguished customers.
     The centenarian is survived by his second wife, Mrs. Mary Hannah
Anderson; a son, William Anderson Jr., Lexington; a daughter, Mrs. Marie
Williams, Des Moines, Iowa; a stepdaughter, Mrs. Mary Green, and a
granddaughter, Mrs. Marjorie Dean, Lexington.  Funeral arrangements will
be announced later.


Submitted by: WRFC71A@prodigy.com (MRS BEULAH A FRANKS)
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997